OLD VERSION! Stuck in National Treasure
by Wizard-in-Disguise
Summary: Kathryn and Anne Lasky were watching a movie when they got transported into the National Treasure world. Now, Anne's teaming up with Ben and Kathryn's teaming up with Ian, not knowing that Ian's the bad guy. Is love in the air? Ian/OC Riley/OC COMPLETE
1. Tied Up and Ready to Go

Anne Lasky was dragging Kathryn Lasky very painfully by the wrist. 

"Honestly," grumbled Anne, her long fingernails digging into Kathryn's wrist. "What does your English teacher teach you? What kind of person hasn't heard of National Treasure?"

"Me," replied Kathryn in her thick British accent that she had gotten from five years of living in London, annoyed.

Anne grinned before pushing Kathryn down on the couch and saying, "Well, you won't be able to say that again." She found the National Treasure DVD and quickly inserted it into the DVD player. Meanwhile while she was doing that, Kathryn was looking around Anne's flat worriedly. The house was a total and utter mess!

"Anne," said Kathryn timidly, even though she was the big sister but Anne could be a little bit of a fright sometimes. "Are you sure you chose the right, eh, environment? It seems kind of messy…"

Said girl rolled her eyes and muttered, "There you go again; always drilling it into me that I need to clean my flat."

The older girl grinned and said, "Sorry, I can't help it. It's a habit of mine."

Anne laughed, "Yeah, well, whatever. Just focus on the movie."

And then there was a loud BANG! (A/N: I'm sure you readers know how it goes.)

Kathryn pushed her jet-black hair out of her face as she fell to the floor with a grunt. She hurriedly scrambled up, not sure what had happened but she being the 'smart' one she always was, she quickly concluded that she was in the mid of a car chase. The door to the van she was currently in was open and there was a thirty something year-old lady hanging on to it for dear life.

Kathryn jogged towards the lady and reached out a hand, hoping to pull her in but she was shoved to the side by rough, coarse hands. She looked up, readying herself to yell at the person who pushed her but apparently, she wasn't the one that was going to do the talking.

"You," hissed the man, his blue eyes glaring at her. "I don't know who you are and where you came from but whatever you do, you better not bloody interfere with my plan."

Whatever respect that Kathryn had for this man, it disappeared before anybody could say 'Ah well'. She returned the glare the man was shooting her way and said viciously, baring her teeth, "Bite me."

The man ignored her and quickly grabbed the document from the lady's grip. He grinned and said laughingly, "Thank you, got it. Go on."

Anne arrived at this odd place later than Kathryn and when she landed on the messy floor of Riley's van, Ben Gates and Riley Poole had already managed to get Dr. Chase. When she brushed away her blonde locks from her eyes, she finally demanded, "Okay, where am I?"

"You're in America," replied Riley lamely.

Anne glared at him, "I know that, you dolt but can you please tell me what state I'm in or ooh, better yet, why I am in this stupid bloody van when I'm supposed to be back home in my flat and watching a movie?" The words spilled out of her mouth before she could register who he was.

Then it kicked in.

Oh crap. Oh bloody crap. She was in National Treasure! Usually, Anne would have jumped with joy after realizing that because her lifetime ambition was to become rich and famous but this didn't seem like acting at all. It was like a parallel world where things that happened in National Treasure the movie actually _did_ happen.

Gods, she didn't know how right she was.

"I'm in Washington, aren't I?" she asked, her heart pounding.

"If you mean the state, no but if you mean the capital of United States and where the Library of Congress and the National Archives are, then yes," replied Ben Gates very calmly, as if the car chase that had happened before never happened at all. "If you meant the second one, try using D.C. after it. It tends to clear up any confusion, understand? Did you know that-"

He was cut off by Anne who said very sweetly, "Thanks but as I remember, I didn't ask for the whole history of Washington, _D. C._"

Ben scowled, obviously used to people listening intently to him.

Riley chuckled and muttered, "I like her."

Anne gave him a small smile before going back to thinking.

_I don't want people thinking I'm a loony,_ thought Anne. _But if I tell them how I got here, they _will_ think I'm a loony. Oh gosh, what to do, what to do… I can either play the part of somebody who doesn't know them at all and doesn't know how she got here (which is partly true) or tell them my story. Let's stick to the first one. I wonder what happened to Kathryn…_

"Is this really necessary?" asked Kathryn weakly, as Ian tied Kathryn to a chair that he had miraculously found in his van.

"It'll have to do until you tell me your name, where you're from, how the hell you got her and whether the bloody hell you're with Gates," replied Ian.

"Fine," snapped Kathryn before taking a deep breath and answering his question. "I'm Kathryn Lasky, I was on a vacation in America after getting a Bachelor's Degree in Oxford and I'm not really sure how I got here. I was watching some movie with my sister when BOOM! I got here."

"You still haven't answered my question about Gates," said Ian, somewhat nastily but he felt some respect for the woman tied up in a chair after she mentioned she went to the University of Oxford.

"Gates…?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.

Ian sighed exasperatedly, "Oh, come on, woman! You can't say that you've never heard of the Gates family."

"Yes, I can, because it's true."

"You've never heard of the crazy family with the bloody crazy conspiracy theories?"

"No…" said Kathryn slowly, and a smile crept onto her lips. "But I can't say I don't believe them."

_Hmm…_ Ian looked at the woman and gently rubbed his chin, deep in thought. This person could prove useful. He looked up suddenly and demanded, "What were you studying in the University of Oxford?" He knew he could have just used the acronyms but for some reason, he detested them.

Kathryn looked at Ian with surprise and replied anyway, "I studied American History."

Ian half smirked half smiled and quickly threw her a riddle for her to figure out.

"The legend writ, the stain affected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend. Figure that one out," said Ian. "If you get it wrong, you stay here but if you get it right, you go." He nodded his head at Kathryn, motioning for her to start, even though what was going to happen if she got it right was the opposite.

Kathryn couldn't help but throw a steely glare at Ian but she racked her mind for the answer anyway. "It's a map!" she cried suddenly. "On the Declaration of Independence… The key in Silence undetected… Silence Dogood?" she asked questioningly, looking at Ian.

"Who's Silence Dogood?"

"Oh, Silence Dogood, well, at age fifteen, Benjamin Franklin secretly wrote letters to his brother's newspaper, which was the _New England Courant_, posing as a middle-aged widow."

"Well, where are the Silence Dogood letters now?"

Kathryn shrugged as Ian's probing gaze stared at her. "I'm not quite sure," she said. "Seeing as I still don't know where the hell I am." She gave Ian a steely smile.

Ian returned the smile mockingly and turned his head, "Shaw! The girl-" –he pointed to Kathryn- "stays, alright? She's got useful information."

"Hey!" cried Kathryn. "I thought you said that I would be able to go if I answered the riddle correctly and I'm pretty sure I did!"

Ian waved a hand absentmindedly and said, "I lied."

"I really and sincerely hate you, Mr. Whateveryournameis."

"It's actually Ian, Ms. Whateveryournameis."

"It's actually Kathryn, Mr. Ianisastupidname."

"It's actually Shut-up-or-I'll-kill-you-soon, Ms. Kathryn."

Her name rolled off Ian's tongue and came out with a casual drawl. He brushed away his soft blond hair and sighed. "Right, you guys, you did well today. Don't worry; we'll get Gates." He smiled warmly at each of his thugs; Ian was always there for his thugs. Always encouraging them, assuring them that nothing would go wrong.

A/N: How did you like that? This is my first National Treasure fic so go easy on me. There was never any good Ian/OC fics and I pretty much finished reading all of them so I decided to write my own and see what happened in the end. In my own way, it's kinda like I'm reading the fic myself. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this.


	2. The Declaration of Independence

Anne was sitting at the side of the van, dangling her legs, loving it when her bare feet brushed across the ticklish grass. She didn't really listen to what Ben was saying; partly because she knew it so well since she watched National Treasure almost every other day.

"Ms.," asked Ben. "Ms.?"

Anne looked up at him with a questioning glance, motioning for him to move on.

"Um," Ben said, looking embarrassed. "I don't know your name."

She nearly burst out laughing. This man was acting embarrassed before he didn't know her name? Gods. She managed to stifle a snort and a chuckle and replied, "I'm Anne, Anne Lasky."

Ben nodded, "Oh, okay, Anne, I'm Ben, this is Riley-" -he pointed to the man driving the van- "And this is Dr. Chase." He waved to the woman sitting beside her.

Anne nodded in recognition and continued dangling her legs.

* * *

Shippen was driving the van now and even Kathryn was grumbling at his extremely slow speed.

Ian had untied Kathryn after a half-hour of her whining. Now that she was untied, she leaned against the inside of the van, trying to strike a conversation. "So, I'm Kathryn Lasky…" she said, twirling a strand of black hair around her finger. "I'm twenty-nine years old and I'm studying American history at the University of Oxford. What about you, baldy?" She nodded to Shaw who was sitting across from her.

"Hey!" cried Shaw indignantly, lifting a hand to his bald head. "I am not bald!"

Kathryn snorted, "Sure… you just have a wonderful head of hair."

Phil, who was sitting beside Shaw, chuckled.

"Shut up, Phil," Shaw said, shooting a dirty look at Phil. "But since I'm nice, I'll answer your question. I'm Jason Shaw, thirty years-old and I didn't go to university. I took a course on how to handle guns and things like that though."

"You're only thirty years-old?" asked Kathryn, cocking her head to one side. "I thought you were like forty or something."

"Thanks," Shaw said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No problem," chirped Kathryn and then looked at Phil. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just Phil, Phil Greenleaf. I'm, uh, thirty as well."

"Look, Lasky," said Ian, cutting in before Kathryn could harass his other thugs. "Stop asking my thugs who they are and their whole life history, alright? We are all thirty years-old, with the exception of me being thirty-three. We all didn't go to university, with the exception of me going to the University of George Washington. Alright, now?"

"Fine," said Kathryn sulkily. "But you don't have to act so superior about your age. After all, when you celebrate your birthday, you celebrate one more year closer to your death. Anyway, I still want to know you guy's names."

Ian sighed before muttering, "I'm Ian Howe, that's Phil, Shaw, Shippen, Viktor, McGregor and Powell."

"Finally," Kathryn smiled at all of them, reserving a nasty one for Ian. "Thank you."

* * *

"Hi, Dad," greeted Ben, flashing Patrick Gates a small uncertain smile.

Patrick took it all in slowly and finally said, "So, where's the party?"

"Eh heh, well," Ben chuckled nervously. "I'm in a bit of trouble."

Patrick gestured between Anne and Abigail. "Are any of them pregnant?"

Anne coughed then quickly raised a hand. "Not me," she said. "Sorry but your son is _not_ a hunk but I'm not sure whether Dr. Chase here-" She pushed Abigail forward. "Thinks the opposite." Finishing, she flashed a sweet little smile at Ben and Abigail who gave her a Look.

Ben smiled while giving a sideways glare at Anne, "Well, if she is, are you gonna leave the woman carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?"

"Then I presume it's Dr. Chase?"

"Yes," cut in Anne before Ben or Abigail or Riley could reply. "Now can you let us in please? It's rather tiring just standing out here even though I'm sure all of us love the small talk."

Patrick gave a small smile but quickly hid it with an impatient huff. He stepped aside and let them in but when Ben walked in, he hissed, "This better not be about that dumb treasure." And he frowned, when Ben didn't answer. He led them into the living room and said, gesturing to an open box sitting on the living room table, "There's some pizza. It's still warm, I think."

"Oh, awesome," said Anne happily, zooming over to the living room table and taking a slice of pizza and biting into it. "This is good. What type is it? Hawaiian?"

Riley looked at the slice of pizza Anne held mournfully.

"It's Hawaiian, alright, and you just took the only slice," he said, staring at the slice of pizza that Anne was slowly chomping down.

Anne giggled and took the pizza from her mouth. She passed it to Riley and said, "Eat the end part because you don't want to get my saliva." She laughed again as Riley thankfully took the pizza and stared at it with loving eyes and then, of course, began eating it.

"Thanks," said Riley, his mouth full so it came out sounding something like, 'Thwamk'.

Anne shrugged.

* * *

"So," said Kathryn. "You guys want to tell me what the heck is going on?"

"No, not really," replied Ian as he searched the internet, trying to find out where the Silence Dogood letters were.

They were staying at Phil's house, since it was the closest one in Washington, D. C. Kathryn and Ian were both sitting on the couch, even though all Kathryn was doing was flipping through the channels and finding one that she liked. Powell was cooking noodles; even though Kathryn knew how to cook and cooked well, she didn't want to help out unless they told her what was going on.

In a matter of minutes, the food was burnt.

Kathryn couldn't help but chuckle. "You know, if you guys tell me what's going on right now, I'll cook," volunteered Kathryn. "So, what about it, guys?" She turned around, her back to the TV as she leaned forward, smiling at Shaw, Phil, Shippen and Powell, trying to get them to agree.

Shippen quickly agreed and shook Kathryn's hand. "Deal," he said, receiving a dirty look from Powell. "I'm yearning for good food."

Kathryn laughed.

"Hey, boss, we're gonna tell Lasky here what's happening, yeah?" asked Powell.

Immediately, Ian turned around and exclaimed, "WHAT? Are you out of your bloody mind?"

"Yes, if it means we get food," replied Shaw, throwing an arm around Kathryn's shoulder. "And this girlie here says she'll cook if she gets information outta us."

"Food?" Ian's head jerked and he rubbed his chin, considering the offer. It _had_ been a long time since he had good, un-burnt food... "Fine, go tell her whatever."

After Kathryn was told about what had happened, the boys demanded that Kathryn make them a decent dinner. She laughed and said, "Of course. I never go back on my word but I need one of you boys to drive me. I doubt that Ian will let me go alone." Shaw volunteered and soon, they were off to the supermarket.

Kathryn grabbed a cart and started ticking things off her mental to-buy list. Soon, there were five cartons of eggs, a bag of onions, a bag of potatoes, a bag of corn, cereal, chewy bars, spaghetti thingies, five different kinds of vegetables in her cart and a whole lot of other stuff.

"Um, Lasky," said Shaw. "How are we going to eat all that?"

Kathryn looked down at her cart and gave a weak smile at Shaw. She shrugged and said, "I'm sure it'll come in handy sometime." With that, she strolled to the check-out counter and stared at the newspaper stand while waiting for her turn and she saw two familiar words. Silence Dogood. "Stay here," she commanded, looking at Shaw as she made two giant strides to the newspaper stand and read the headline: 'SILENCE DOGOOD LETTERS TO BE PUT IN FRANKLIN INSTITUTE IN PHILADELPHIA!' Kathryn grabbed the newspaper and let her eyes quickly skim over the article. The Silence Dogood letters were donated by a Patrick Gates, which was probably the father of Ben Gates, and it was to be put in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Interesting.

When they got back to Phil's house, Kathryn quickly made fast spaghetti for all of them, eager to share the news. Even though Kathryn didn't exactly like helping the 'bad' guys, even though Phil, Shippen, Powell, McGregor, Viktor and Shaw were really nice, she liked treasure hunts and things that tested her knowledge of American history. She had commanded that all of the boys sit down and communicate, even if it killed them.

"So..." said Kathryn casually, wrapping her spaghetti around her fork. "I found out where the Silence Dogood letters are."

Ian's head jerked up from wolfing down the spaghetti.

"You found out where the Silence Dogood letters are?" he whispered in delight, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Kathryn nodded, smiling at his happiness.

"So where is it?" asked Ian, his voice still an anxious whisper.

She smirked, "I'll tell you if you let me go with you on this little adventure hunt."

He didn't even have to think. "Deal."

Kathryn's smile faltered. "Wait, if I knew you were going to give in so easily, I would have asked for a million bucks as well!"

Ian grinned teasingly, "Sucks, eh? And here I was, about to give you two million bucks."

She glared at him playfully and turned to Powell who was sitting beside Ian, "Kill him for me, Powell."

Powell ignored her and continued chomping down in spaghetti.

Kathryn smiled and shook her head.

"So where are they?"

"Oh, they're in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia."

* * *

A/N: Hey, I updated pretty fast, didn't I? I just realized that the stars I had put in my Word document didn't show up so it looked really untidy and it was a tad irritating as I read through the first chapter. Right, now that I've updated this story, I probably should get back to my other Harry Potter stories or maybe I should do the opposite... 


	3. Scared of a Girl

"It's an Ottendorf Cipher..." said Abigail.

"That's right," Patrick replied, looking at the back of the Declaration with Independence with surprise.

"Oh, okay," Riley said and then shifted to another foot, slightly embarrassed. "What's an Ottendorf cipher?"

Anne looked at Riley, "They're just codes."

Ben pointed to the Ottendorf cipher with a gloved hand. "Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key, usually a random book or a newspaper article. In this case, it's referring to the Silence Dogood letters."

"Yeah, so it's like the page number of the key text," said Anne, grabbing Ben's pen and pointing to the Ottendorf cipher. "The line on the page and the letter in that line."

"Thanks for grabbing the pen, Miss Manners," Ben grumbled and then looked up at Patrick. "So, Dad, where are the letters?"

Fear flickered in Patrick's eyes and there was nothing else to do but stall. "You know, it's just by sheer happenstance that his grandfather even found them. They were in an antique desk in the press room of the _New England Courant_. That's a newspaper."

"Dad," said Ben. "Dad, where are the letters?"

"I don't have them, son."

"What?" Ben struggled to keep his frustration out of his voice as he stared at his father.

"I don't have them."

Ben sighed and sat down on an armchair. He used his teeth to pull off his gloves and he looked at Patrick almost angrily, "Where are they?"

"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia," said Patrick promptly.

"Time to go," Ben sighed and rose to get his coat.

Abigail cupped her chin with a hand. "I still can't believe it. All the time, no one knew what was on the back."

"The back of what?" Finally, Patrick couldn't conceal his curiosity as he grabbed the Declaration of Independence and saw what it was. He gasped. "Oh my gosh, oh my god, what have you done?! This is the Declaration of Independence!"

"Yes," said Anne, taking the Declaration of Independence gently away from his hands. "And it's very delicate."

"You stole it?"

Riley immediately pointed to Ben.

"Thanks, Riley," said Ben sarcastically. "Dad, I can explain but I don't have time. It was necessary and you saw the cipher.

"And that will lead to another clue and that will lead to another clue!" yelled Patrick.

"Why don't we just tie him up now?" Riley commented dryly.

"Good idea,"

* * *

Kathryn was up by 8 o'clock and had already begun to make breakfast for herself. She didn't bother making breakfast for the others since they were fast asleep. Ian was snoring softly on the couch while Shaw was snorting and grunting in his sleep. As Kathryn flipped the egg, Ian's cell phone rang. Slightly annoyed, she wiped her dirty hands on her apron and flipped the cell phone open. 

"Hello?" she said.

A distant but still nasty voice replied, "Is Ian there?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, let me get him."

Kathryn set the phone down and gently shook Ian. He just grunted and turned around, pulling the blanket around him. She sighed; men were so hard to wake. There was only one way to do it: Kathryn lowered her mouth to Ian's ear where it gently brushed against it and hollered, "IAN! WAKE UP!"

It received the reaction she wanted. Ian bolted and grabbed Kathryn's wrist, breathing heavily. Trickles of sweat were slowly running down the side of his face and his eyes were wide, fear in them.

"Bad dream?" asked Kathryn, her voice gentle and sympathetic.

Ian nodded wordlessly.

She nodded understandingly and reached out a hand, grabbing the phone. "Do you want to take this phone call?" she asked, looking at Ian.

"Who's it from?"

Kathryn shrugged and raised the phone to her ear. She swore she could hear a mutter "Finally," but then it could just be her imagination. "Hi, sorry but can I know who this is, please," asked Kathryn in her sweet voice she used when she was answering phones.

"Just tell Ian that it's Raeven," said the smuggish-sneerish tone.

"Alright," Kathryn nodded, even though she knew the person on the other line couldn't see her. She turned to Ian, "It's Raeven."

Ian paled visibly but he took the phone anyway while giving Kathryn a look.

She rolled her eyes but exited to go to the kitchen.

**A HALF-HOUR LATER...**

Kathryn had finished making egg sandwiches for all of them by the time Ian finished his phone call. He walked into the kitchen, breathing heavily and cursing under his breath, grabbed a sandwich from the plate and collapsed on a chair. There was nothing else that could describe him other than 'distressed'. In spite of herself, Kathryn felt herself worrying about him.

"Ian?" she asked, concern evident in her tone of voice. "Are you alright?"

"Wait, Raeven isn't threatening you, is she?" she asked again.

Ian gave a small smile and murmured, "You don't miss a thing, do you?"

She smiled back and sat beside him. She patted him on the shoulder and said, "Come on, tell Dr. Lasky."

Burying his head in his hands, Ian groaned.

"You're right, Lasky," said Ian quietly. "Raeven _is_ threatening me. She's got my sister as hostage and she even sent a lock of hair as proof. I sent it for DNA testing but she somehow knew that so I'll pretty much never know whether the hair belongs to my niece or what." He looked up and added hopefully, "You don't happen to be a DNA testing person, do you?"

Kathryn chuckled and shook her head, "In your dreams, Ian."

Ian sighed playfully. "It was worth a try."

* * *

"Your dad's got a sweet ride," murmured Riley, leaning against the window, hugging himself, trying to keep warm.

Ben ignored him, "I think we should change clothes."

Anne raised an eyebrow, "Now? In here? In this car?"

He shot her a dirty look and continued, gritting his teeth, "We look kinda conspicuous, don't you think?" All the time saying that, he was looking at Abigail, as if he was trying to get her approval.

"I'd love to go shopping too," said Riley in a louder voice than before. "But we have no money."

Anne rolled her eyes and said in an annoyed tone, "Shut up, Riley."

Ben chuckled and passed Abigail a small book. "Here, I took this from his house. He usually tucks a few hundred dollars between those pages."

Abigail looked it over, "Common sense... how appropriate."

"When are we gonna get there?" asked Riley. "I'm hungry. This car smells weird."

Anne couldn't help but laugh.

**NEXT DAY...**

"Hey, kid," said Riley, greeting a black boy that was lagging behind from his field trip group. "How would _you_-" He waved his pen around in a dramatic fashion. "Like to earn a few bucks?" The moment he mentioned money, the boy looked up with interest.

"How much money?" he asked suspiciously.

"Eh," Riley thought about it. "How 'bout two bucks every time you enter the museum and do what I want you to do?"

"Deal,"

"So, um, your name please?"

"Oh, it's Daniel."

Anne looked at Daniel with interest and smiled, "Daniel... that's a nice name."

The boy looked slight taken aback but pleased. "Um, thanks," He looked at Riley. "So what do you want me to do?"

While Riley explained to Daniel what he was supposed to do, Anne looked around and was extremely shocked to see Kathryn hanging around with Ian's group. She gasped inaudibly and stared at what she saw.

Daniel scurried off and immediately, Riley turned to Anne and asked worriedly, "Anne, are you alright?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat and said quietly, "Yeah, I'm great. Yeah, totally awesome."

_CRAP!_ thought Anne as she sat beside Riley, barely saying a word. _Okay, Sis came to this National Treasure world as well? _She hit herself mentally. _Okay, duh but what the hell is this thing about her hanging out with Ian and his henchmen? Wait, maybe she's a prisoner..._ She hit herself again. _Oh, no, in all the __fanfiction__, the prisoner _ALWAYS_ falls for Ian. Oh, __lordy__, don't tell me Kathryn's going to FALL in love with Ian! Even if he is hot...

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, I've updated. I'm on a roll, baby! Just so you guys know, this will be a rather fast-paced story and it will probably consist of only 8 chapters, perhaps? I'd like to thank GreenLightsaber Girl. She has been a wonderful inspiration to me and I LOVE her Ian/OC fics. It's absolutely wonderful and she updates fast. She's my role model. XD Thanks to all the others who review as well! 


	4. Meeting Old 'Friends'

Dressed fancily, Kathryn, Shippen, Powell, Shaw, Phil and Ian entered the Franklin Institute. Ian had used to gel to push back his hair and give it a sleek look and wore a clean tuxedo that said 'I mean business'. Kathryn, however, simply wore a collar-shirt that hugged her figure and a smart-looking sweater that matched her semi-tight jeans. 

As they walked in, a boy that looked like a fourth-grader accidentally bumped into Ian. He looked up at Ian and said, "Oops, sorry, sir, excuse me." And then scurried off while Ian was just about to open his mouth and say it was okay. Shippen raised an eyebrow at the boy and shrugged.

Ian walked straight to the Silence Dogood letters while Kathryn stood in the middle of the ground floor in and whispered to herself, "This place is huge..."

The boy who bumped into Ian was back again and he was heading towards the Silence Dogood as well. Kathryn narrowed her eyes; what was a silly little fourth-grader doing here looking at Silence Dogood letters? She highly doubted that he was on a field trip with his classmates since he was quite alone and there weren't screams and yells of excitement and bore from the upstairs level and soon, Kathryn felt quite inclined to follow him.

The boy tapped a pencil against his chin as his eyes scanned through every word, counting. Behind him, Kathryn pretended to be looking at the letters too but as he finished writing four letters on a yellow piece of paper, she stared at it, hoping that she would remember it. Ian was also looking at the boy, deep in thought.

After the boy scurried out, Ian seemed to come up with a conclusion and he hurried after the boy. When he finally got out, the boy was across the road and jumping up and down, as if trying to find somebody.

"What's going on?" asked Shaw, looking at Ian for an answer.

"I'm not sure," Ian replied, still looking at the boy.

He ran across the road, using the pedestrian crossing. Kathryn, knowing what he was about to do, took the hundred dollar bill out of his hand and headed towards the car that was parked quite near. Not knowing whether to choose the boy or the prisoner that could give a lot of information, Ian stood on the sidewalk, contemplating and then he quickly ran after Kathryn.

"Lasky, you better not think about running away!" he yelled.

Kathryn looked back, tilted her head up and laughed as she neared the car.

Ian grabbed her wrist before she could even open the car door. "Tell me what the hell is going on NOW."

She waved the hundred dollar bill in front of his face and answered in a sing-song voice, "Well, I thought that since I know what the letters that the boy wrote were, that I should have the money instead of you giving it to the boy."

"What are the letters?" asked Phil, cocking his head.

"I'll tell you if I get to keep this," replied Kathryn, referring to the bill in her hand. When all of them agreed, she continued, "The letters were S-T-O-W, of course referring to John Stow who cast the bell along with John Pass."

Shippen already had his laptop out and he was typing in: STOW, Declaration of Independence. "Top results: Liberty Bell and Independence Hall."

Ian smiled. "Gentlemen, I think it's time to go on a tour to see the Liberty Bell."

"No, Ian, that's wrong," said Kathryn, shaking her head. "The Silence Dogood letters were written in like in the 17-something. That means the Liberty Bell was still in Independence Hall but the Centennial Bell replaced it in 1876."

Smirking, Ian turned to his henchmen, "And this is why we sometimes keep prisoners prisoners. They can come in handy."

"Gee, thanks," Kathryn said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

After Riley finished getting all the letters, he quickly found his way to Urban Outfitters and climbed the steps eagerly to get to Ben and Abigail. "Hey," he greeted.

* * *

Ben turned around, nearly as eager. "Did you get it, Riley?" 

"Oh, he got it," Anne said, smiling while she ruffled Riley's hair.

"Ugh, Anne," he whined, raising a hand to fix his hair. "Stop it."

Abigail rolled her eyes, "Just get on with it, Riley."

Riley rolled his eyes right back at her, "The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow. Now, Pass and Stow, of course, referring to the-"

"Liberty Bell," said Abigail and Ben in unison.

"Why do you have to do that?"

"Well," said Abigail, waving a hand slightly. "John Pass and John Stow cast the bell."

Riley sighed, "Okay but what does the other stuff mean?"

Ben started pacing around, his mind whirling at the challenge. "Wait... 'The vision to see the treasured past' must refer to a way to read the map."

"But I thought the cipher was the map," said Anne, cocking her head.

"No, the cipher was a WAY to read the map," replied Ben, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "And the way to read the map can be found where the 'timely shadow' crosses in front of the Liberty Bell."

Abigail inched closer to him, "No, crosses in front of the 'house' of the Liberty Bell: Independence Hall..."

"Right," said Anne, eagerness to help solve the puzzle creeping on to her voice. "So 'timely shadow'- it's a specific time."

"Okay, what time?" asked Riley.

Anne couldn't help but glare at him. "You just had to burst my bubble, didn't you?"

Riley smiled and shrugged.

Ben put a hand on Abigail's shoulder and smiled, "Wait, wait a minute, you're going to love this." He wagged a finger in front of her face and then walked over to the counter. "Excuse me, can I see one of those hundred-dollar bills I paid you with?"

The girl who was behind the counter narrowed her eyes slightly and shook her head, saying in a very sneering tone, "No."

"Oh, well, here," said Ben, looking down at his wrist and trying to take off his valuable watch. "I have this diver's watch. It's called a Submariner and I dive with it. It's actually quite valuable. You can use it as collateral."

The girl rolled her eyes and took the watch, "Whatever."

"It would feel so good to slap her now," said Anne to Riley, scowling.

"Uh-mmm," said Riley, nodding.

"Thank you," said Ben, smiling slightly and he turned to Abigail. "On the back of a hundred-dollar bill, there is an etching of Independence Hall based on a painting done in-"

"Hello?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Thank you," Ben said again. "Of a painting done in the 1780s and the artist was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin. It's wonderful!"

"Fascinating," said the girl before rolling her eyes and turning around, her back to them.

"Hold this," said Ben, passing Abigail the Declaration of Independence and then grabbing it back solemnly when he realized who was holding it.

Abigail half smirked, half smiled, "I'm not going to go anywhere, Ben."

Ben smiled as well, "Now, I think if we look at this clock tower-" He grabbed a bottle of water from the counter. "We may find the specific time."

"What do you see?" asked Anne, leaning forward.

"2:22," murmured Ben. He looked up. "What time is it now?"

The girl from behind the counter looked at the watch in her hand. "Nearly 3."

Ben and Abigail sighed. "We missed it."

Riley took the bill and inspected it, "No, we didn't. We didn't miss it because... You don't know this? I- I know something about history that you don't know."

"I'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley," said Ben in a dry tone.

"Well, hold on one second. Just let me take this moment in. This is, this is cool. Is this how you feel every time? Because you know, except for now, of course."

"Riley!" yelled all the three other adults.

"Alright, what I know is that daylights savings wasn't established until World War I. If it's 3 pm now, okay, that means in 1776, it would be 2 pm."

"Riley," said Ben, smiling. "You're a genius."

**A HALF-HOUR LATER...**

"What's this bell?" asked Riley, looking up at the bell that was above him.

"It's the Centennial Bell," replied Anne. "It replaced the Liberty Bell in 1876."

Ben nodded, agreeing with Anne and then rushed over to the window, looking at his watch and then intently staring at the clock tower.

Then the door was pushed open.

Kathryn pushed the door open as Ian had insisted that the prisoner had to stay in front so that the person watching her could see what she was doing and make sure she wasn't going to run away.

The sight in front of her shocked her.

It was Anne Lasky.

"Anne!" she cried, rushing over to her little sister and vigorously hugging her. "Anne! Thank gods you're alright."

"Wait," Riley said. "You know her?"

"Know her?" smiled Kathryn. "She's my little sister!"

"Guys," said Ben happily. "It's 3:22. Time to go."

Ian heard the familiar voice and rose from the steps. "Ah," he said, cocking an eyebrow. "Benjamin Gates."

Ben immediately turned around, outraged, "YOU! YOU TRAITOR!"

"You know him?" asked Kathryn, slightly puzzled.

He gave a short humourless laugh. "Know him?" he asked. "I lived with that guy. Tell me, he raped you, didn't he?"

Kathryn gave an outraged yell and flew to Ian's defence.

"He did not!" she yelled. "Ian was a perfect gentleman. How dare you say that!" She walked right up to him and raised a hand, ready to slap him. Luckily, Ian grabbed her wrist sharply and gently put it down.

He shook his head and said quietly, "No, Kathryn. Don't,"

Whatever he had said after he said her name, Kathryn didn't notice. A bright smile graced her lips and she lunged at Ian, hugging him vigorously. Surprised, he hugged her back, patting her on the back awkwardly and glancing at the others with a silent 'What the hell?' "You called me by my first name," said Kathryn happily, wiping an imaginary tear from her cheek.

Ian laughed. He couldn't help it. This girl was getting all worked up because he used her first name? He shook his head mentally. What a weirdo.

After that, Kathryn stayed very happy.

"There it is," Ben said suddenly. It seemed that he had appeared back at his spot at the window looking out and he pointed to the shadow. He grinned like a boy that had just gotten his Christmas present and was just about to go down the stairs when a hand grabbed his wrist painfully. He turned around and saw that it was Ian. What a surprise... "What?" he asked sharply, narrowing his eyes.

"You're not going without me, Gates," replied Ian, his voice so cold and hard that it even surprised Kathryn. He let go of Ben's wrist and nudged his head and then climbed after him. Raising his head, he quickly yelled, "ALL OF YOU! MEET ME IN THE SIGNING ROOM!"

"No need to yell, Blondie," muttered Riley and Anne couldn't help but laugh.

Ian's head appeared from the stairs and his voice was dangerously quiet, "What was that?"

Kathryn laughed nervously and pushed Riley and Anne away and towards the other side. "Oh, um, Riley meant Anne. See, she's blonde too."

Ian couldn't help but to roll his eyes.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, this story is moving really fast. It'll probably be done in about three more chapters. I'm quite anxious but yet sad to get it done. I can't wait to have my first finished story but at the same time, I don't want to get rid of Kathryn and Anne. Also, guess what! It turns out that Kathryn Lasky is the author of the Guardians of Ga'hoole (I think?). Pretty cool, eh? It was just a coincidence that I came over the name. I'm probably going to write a sequel. I don't really care what people think of my story. I just like writing it. I'm sure it's the same with most of you.

I am extremely sorry for the mix-up! At least it got some new people reading Nanny Needed for Malfoy Manor. XD Please continue reviewing!


	5. Ian's Girl

Kathryn looked up from her conversation with Abigail and immediately smiled as Ian walked in, grinning smugly. Ben looked slightly uncomfortable but had a proud smile on his face as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an Ocular device.

He raised an eyebrow and said in a questioning tone, "'The vision to see the treasured past,' Let me take this," He grabbed the Declaration of Independence and walked away, with Ian trailing after him, watching his every move.

Riley took the Ocular device in his hands, "Wow... they're like early American x-ray specs," Teasingly, he brought the Ocular device near to his face and smiled at Anne who frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

"Don't you dare think about it," she growled, glaring at him.

"Make me," challenged Riley, waving the Ocular device in front of her face.

Anne lunged for the Ocular device but missed, hitting Riley hard in the face. She grabbed the Ocular device and dangled it in front of Riley while he rubbed his sore cheek. "Who's making you now, eh, Riley?" she smirked, leaning forward so that her face was inches from his and he could definitely see her gloating smile.

Kathryn smiled at their playful banter but couldn't help but pull Anne away. "Anne," she said, frowning at her. "Quit it."

"Benjamin Franklin invented something like these," said Abigail, looking at Ben.

Ben looked at her as he slipped the Declaration out of its case.

"Uh, I think he invented these," he said, walking over to them. He carefully unrolled the Declaration of Independence with the help of Ian, Kathryn and Riley.

Ian flinched as the Declaration of Independence emitted a small noise and he said, "Careful!"

Kathryn smiled at him and cocked her head, "You think?"

Ben gave a small delighted sigh.

Riley looked up at him and said questioningly, "What?"

"It's just that the last time this was here, it was being signed," replied Ben, nodding and smiling. There was a small moment for Ben to give his silent gratefulness before Riley said lamely, incredibly bored,

"Ben, there's another tour coming."

"Turn it over," instructed Ian, flipping the Declaration of Independence gently. He gave a small cough and reached out a graceful hand for the Ocular device, "Spectacles." Trying to still hold the Declaration of Independence, Kathryn grabbed the Ocular device that Riley had given her to look at and passed it to Ian, their hands touching for a short while. They smiled at each other and their silent communication didn't go unnoticed by Ben. He too smiled.

Ian slipped the glasses on and his mouth slightly opened as he looked through the Ocular device. He leaned towards the Declaration of Independence and stared at it. There was a picture that had the Trinity Church sign and above it said: Heere at the wall.

Ben leaned towards Ian and asked in an eager tone, "What do you see?"

Riley copied the action but instead of asking what he saw, he asked, "What is it? Is it a treasure map?" Suddenly appearing by Riley's side, Anne laughed. Embarrassed but slightly angry, Riley turned and glared at her.

"It says 'Heere at the wall', spelt with two E's. Here, take a look," said Ian, passing the spectacles to Ben but a thin and feminine-smelling hand shot out and grabbed for it. Kathryn walked over to the Declaration of Independence and shoved Ian aside with a nudge of her butt so that she could have a better view at a different angle.

"Huh, wow," she said, smiling at this discovery.

Riley sighed in exasperation, "Why can't they just say, 'Go to this place, here's the treasure, spend it wisely,'?"

"Because," said Abigail. "This isn't some sort of childish fun, alright? This-" she grabbed the Declaration of Independence and waved it. "Is the Declaration of Independence!"

Ben gave her a small smile but said, "Abigail, please don't shout. It'll attract trouble. Like it always does."

Kathryn smiled at them and then turned to look out the window. She saw a woman who was dressed in a skimpy mini-skirt and an almost transparent sleeveless tank top. She looked like a Raeven. She motioned to Ian and once he was beside her looking out the window, she asked, pointing at the woman, "Is that the woman Raeven? She looks like a Raeven."

Ian's face turned pale as if he had seen a ghost. He gulped and nodded.

"Yeah, she's the one," he said without much enthusiasm.

She looked at him with concern but she shrugged it away.

Ian spun around and started giving out instructions, "Look, Ben, Riley, Dr. Chase, I have to jet. You are going to take the Declaration of Independence-" He grabbed the Declaration of Independence, quickly rolled it up, put it in its case and hurriedly passed it to Ben. "And you better not think about running away if you want Riley's little girlfriend's sister back. Come on, Kathryn!" He grabbed her hand and didn't notice when Kathryn smiled at her sister, reassuring that no harm would come to her.

After Kathryn had left, Anne folded her arms across her chest and said in a grumbling sort of manner, "I'm not Riley's girlfriend!"

Riley grinned, "Oh, you just wish you were."

"Yeah right!" Anne scoffed.

* * *

Ian was still holding Kathryn's hand as he told her instructions, "Look, Kathryn, whatever you do, don't act like you like me, okay? I'm going to say you're a prisoner and you need to prepare yourself for some kisses, alright?" 

"What are you talking about?" asked Kathryn, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

He sighed and hurriedly tried to explain, "Look, Raeven tries to seduce me, alright? I have to give in or else she'll harm my sister. I'm going to have kiss her and maybe even grab her arse or something like that but whatever you do, you HAVE to let her know that you hate me and don't tell her anything about your degree in American History." He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Understand?"

Kathryn nodded, "Yeah, I get it. Um, Ian, you can let go of my hand now."

Ian blinked, blushed and obeyed.

After a while of Ian fidgeting and Kathryn practicing to hate Ian, Raeven finally spotted them and she walked up to them, her hips swaying gently. She smiled seductively at Ian and ignored Kathryn. "Hi, love," she purred, tracing a heart across his chest.

"Hi, Raeven," replied Ian, smiling tightly.

Raeven pouted, "Aww, why the sad face? Can I help you in any way?" Without waiting for an answer, she pressed her lips to his and immediately, her tongue went into his mouth. Her hands were grabbing Ian's arse and pulling him closer to her while he was trying not to kiss back AND not seem like he didn't like the kiss.

Kathryn rolled her eyes and muttered, "PDA much?" She felt a little pit in her stomach and she could definitely identify it as jealousy. She was confused.

Growling, Raeven pushed Ian away and walked up to Kathryn, jabbing her in the chest. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she hissed.

Kathryn smirked and answered in a smug, patronizing tone, "I think I'm Kathryn Lasky, Ian's slut."

Raeven's jaw dropped but she quickly composed herself. She turned to Ian and lifted up his chin with two fingers. Ian braced himself and he hurriedly pressed his lips against hers, making her moan slightly as his hands tentatively lay on her thighs. "Honey bunny," she said into his mouth. "Make your prisoner go away, please. So that we can do, well, whatever I want to do, okay?"

Ian nodded and backed away from the kiss. He looked at Kathryn's slightly hurt face and he couldn't help but feel confused. "Listen to her, now go." His voice was rough and cold but his eyes threw Kathryn a silent plea of help.

* * *

A/N: So what do you think? I'm updating a little bit faster now but the next chapter will take quite a long time. I'm going to apologize in advance. XD Thanks to all my reviewers!


	6. La Internet Cafe

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and said, stalking off, "Fine." She had only spent a few minutes with Raeven and she could tell that she hated her. Ian hadn't told her where to go so she walked off to find Ben, Anne, Riley and Abigail. When she had found Anne, Riley and Abigail, it was evident that they were running from someone.

"Kathryn!" screeched Anne, tugging on her wrist as one of Ian's thugs came near. Curious, Kathryn looked back and saw Shaw running towards them. She smiled at him and even had the nerve to wave.

"Hi, Shaw," she said, smiling brightly at him. "How are you today?"

"Um, fine?" said Shaw, answering a question with a question.

Kathryn rolled her eyes playfully and extended an arm. "Let's walk," she said, ignored the looks of bewilderment from the others.

"Um, sorry, Lasky but I think Ian would want me to catch them," explained Shaw apologetically. "They've got the Declaration of Independence."

She laughed and said, "Oh, it's alright, Shaw. Ian and Ben are sort of working together. Ian had to go because he had to meet Raeven and then they, um, started snogging..." She drew up a disgusted face and Shaw laughed, agreeing that Raeven was rather disgusting. "And then Ian told me to go away so that he could continue snogging her," she added bitterly.

Shaw looked at her thoughtfully and said, "Lasky, don't you know that Ian's being threatened by Raeven and he has to act all lovey-dovey?"

Kathryn snorted, "Lovey-dovey? You're kidding, right, Shaw? It's pretty obvious that Ian doesn't like her!"

Shaw grinned and commented casually, "Do I sense jealousy?"

She glared at him and muttered, "Shut up, Shaw."

"Ooh!" he teased, not able to resist the temptation.

Kathryn glowered and grabbed his face, pulling him down to her. "Nothing is going between us, alright?" she said, her voice slightly cold. "I just don't bloody like to be treated the way he treated me. Got it?" Then she laughed, an action that surprised Shaw and she let go of Shaw's face. "But seriously," she said. "Nothing's happening, alright?"

"Okay, okay," said Shaw, holding up his hands in defeat.

"Kathryn," Anne said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and tugging on Kathryn's sleeve. "Ben's been taken by the FBI... and we lost the Declaration of Independence."

Kathryn finally looked at Anne with wide eyes.

"What?" she hissed. "How the heck did he do that? Wait, did you just say that you lost the Declaration of Independence? How could you! It's the Declaration of Independence. You couldn't even lose it if you tried! And apparently, you didn't." She ran a finger through her hair. "Ugh, that must mean another person's trying to go after the treasure."

"Um, it was actually Ian who stole it..."

She froze. Kathryn couldn't help but stand still in the middle of the sidewalk. Her mind went over the supposedly 'truce' and everything she had done in the presence of Ian. Then she frowned as she reached the memory of Raeven and the fact that she was threatening him. "Of course!" whispered Kathryn excitedly. "Raeven's threatening him. Ian had to pretend to have a truce so that he can get the treasure for himself, or rather, for Raeven or else she'll kill his sister. Oh, why didn't I figure this out earlier!" She turned around to a confused Anne and she smiled. "So where are we meeting Riley and Abigail?"

"Wait," said Anne. "I didn't say that we were meeting them."

"Oh, then, where are they? 'Cause they're not here. What'd you do? Lose them too?"

"Geez, you don't need to act all snappy. We're meeting them at an internet cafe called La Internet Cafe."

"Original..."

"Hi, Abigail, Riley," said Anne as she walked into _La Internet Cafe._ She narrowed her eyes and frowned as she watched Riley's fingers fly all over the keyboard and she stared at the computer screen. _What the heck?_ There was a complicated map on the computer screen and there was a small beeping red dot that was nearing Wall Street. "What's that?" she asked.

"It's Ian," murmured Riley in reply.

Kathryn raised her head at the mention of Ian and she walked over to Riley. "What's that?" she said, repeating Anne's question and even though Riley was trying to be quiet and discreet, she could still hear his exasperated sigh.

"It's Ian," he repeated, this time louder.

Abigail chuckled and said, "I'll tell you all about the plan so you don't have to bother Riley again. He gets really touchy." Anne and Kathryn raised an eyebrow and strolled over to Abigail, where she was eating a sundae. Anne nodded, indicating for Abigail to continue. "Alright, after we called Ian and struck up a deal, we called Ben. We hoped he wasn't in FBI's hands. He wasn't. It turned out he was with Ian and apparently, Riley had 'accidentally' placed a miniscule tracking device on Ben. I don't know why he did it but it helped. So now if Ian does a wrong turn or does something he wasn't supposed to do, we can contact the FBI and they'll be on Ian's tail." She smiled at this 'ingenious' plan.

"Very nice," said Kathryn. "But I have something to tell you." She went on and explained everything about Raeven and Ian. When she had finished, which took quite long since Riley and Anne kept butting it while Abigail just sat there with a puzzled expression, she asked, "So what are we going to do about it? I mean, we have to help him, right?"

"Well, of course, but maybe he's faking it... you know, to get our help and then backstab us?" asked Abigail, looking up at Kathryn thoughtfully.

"Trust me, he wasn't faking."

"Okay," said Anne slowly, thinking things out. "IF, and that's a big if, he's not faking, what can we do anyway?"

"Kill Raeven?" asked Kathryn with a slightly hopeful and playful tone. "Or maybe we can lock her in a closet that's bullet proof. She DEFINITELY has a gun with her somewhere. Perhaps she tucks it in her chest, you know, like those old fashioned movies?"

Riley rolled his eyes and said loudly, "Yeah, sure..." He returned his attention to the computer and his eyes widened. "Hey, look," he whispered in an excited voice, jumping up in his seat and pointing at the computer screen. "Look, lookie, it's Ian! And he's right-"

"-across us?" asked Kathryn, cutting Riley off, staring out the window. She smiled at the figure standing at the street across them but it disappeared when she spotted Raeven hanging on to him like a poor lost puppy. She frowned but quickly shook her head, ridding her current thoughts.

"Yeah, that..." said Riley, slightly freaked out by the fact that Ian could just look across and see them since _La Internet Cafe_ didn't have tinted windows.

Anne laughed and grabbed Riley's cheek, shaking it. "Oh, don't worry, you big baby," she cooed. "I'll take care of you!" Riley slapped her hand away, glaring at her playfully. She returned the gesture, leaning on one leg, hands on her hips. "What's the matter, Rile? You can't stand the fact that a girl's braver than you?" She had no idea why she said that or what it meant.

"Can you hear him?" asked Kathryn, looking over at Riley who was busy retorting to Anne's teases. She was sitting in his lap, laughing at the reaction her teases caused. Kathryn smiled; it was obvious those two were supposed to end up together and Anne deserved her share of happiness. She couldn't delay her question any longer though. "Can you hear him, Riley?" she said, in a louder voice.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I can't. I didn't 'accidentally' put an eavesdropping device on Ben."

Exasperated, Kathryn sighed. "You can 'accidentally' put a tracking device on him but you can't 'accidentally' put an eavesdropping device? Gods," She buried her head in her hands and breathed in deeply. Then she looked up, staring out the window, only to see Ben coming out of a shiny black car that looked so clean it glittered in the sunlight. "Abigail!" she exclaimed then continued in a softer voice. "Look, its Ben! Ugh, why couldn't you put an eavesdropping device on Ben, Riley?"

* * *

A/N: Yes, I'm updating pretty fast, aren't I? XD The story's coming to an end soon. There are about 5 more chapters... okay, that's a pretty long end but I promise, I'll update fast and if I'm going on a hiatus or anything, I'll definitely tell you guys! There's only a LITTLE bit of Anne/Riley fluff and I'm afraid there's not going to be a lot of Kathryn/Ian fluff since Raeven's here and you know Kathryn's supposed to act like the prisoner-who-hates-Ian so to make up for that, I updated in six days! Yeah, but don't expect anymore special stuff. XD 


	7. In the Trinity Church

Ben was staring at one of a few dozen Trinity Church flag then he turned around, hearing Ian's voice. He was wearing a black, sleek leather jacket, instead of the professional-looking blue tuxedo. He had a concerned look on his face, though it didn't quite work because Raeven was by his side, scowling at Ben and had already revealed that she had a gun with her. 

"Ben?" Ian asked. "You alright? No broken bones? A jump like that could kill a man."

Ben shook his head and replied sarcastically, "Naw, it was cool. You should try it sometime."

Ian chuckled and then walked over to the car, placing the Declaration of Independence and the Meerschaum pipe on it. "All yours," he said, looking at Ben expectantly. "That's it. I knew you'd keep your promise. Now, where is it? Where's my treasure?" At that moment, Raeven coughed and set Ian with a look. 

"You mean, our treasure," she said, with a sugary smile.

"Its right here," said Ben, ignoring Raeven but acknowledging her comment in his brain. "The map said 'Heere at the wall', spelled with two E's. Wall Street follows the path of an actual wall that the original Dutch settlers built as a defence to keep the British out. The main gate was located at a street called De Heere, also spelled with two E's. Later, De Heere street was renamed Broadway after the British got in. So, 'Heere at the wall', Broadway, Wall Street," he nodded his head and said in a cheesy British accent, "Cheerio," and grabbed the Declaration of Independence and the Meerschaum pipe.

"Just a moment, Ben," said Ian, pushing back his sandy blonde hair.

"Ian, if you break our deal, the FBI will be only a few minutes behind you. You might get away and you might not."

Ian walked a step closer to Ben and said in a serious tone, "Is that all the map said?" When Ben hesitated then nodded, he chuckled. "Oh, Ben, you know the key to running a convincing bluff? Every once in a while, you've got to be holding all the cards," He looked at the car across the street, where one of his men were leaning against it. The man nodded and opened the car door; revealing Patrick Gates tied up, his hands bounded together with duct tape.

"Feel like helping us now, Benny Fenny?" asked Raeven, smirking delightedly. Ben's fist struggled at his side, trying to not punch Raeven with all his might. It was hard and took a lot of self-control. It was obvious that Ian had noticed his fist moving and when he looked up, his expression was not what Ben had expected; it was not laughter, it was not amusement, it was sympathy._ Could Ian not like Raeven?_ thought Ben. _Perhaps but that still doesn't explain why he's working with her.�Maybe she's threatening him?_

"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" Raeven continued, with that infuriating smile still on her face. 

Ben nodded but he was looking at Ian. "Trinity Church," he said. "We have to go to Trinity Church."

Ian nodded as well and smiled, looking around at all the flags. "Good, excellent," he looked back at Ben. "Now why don't you ask Dr. Chase, Lasky, Riley and Riley's girlfriend to join us? I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Kathryn, Ben, Patrick, Abigail, Riley, Anne, Raeven, Ian and Ian's thugs (A/N: Whoa, that's a load to write! XD) entered Trinity Church. Their surroundings were musty and dark but Ben didn't care about that. He was focusing more on his friends and the fact that they were okay. He wasn't too sure about his dad though. He put a hand on Patrick's shoulder and said quietly, "Are you alright?"

Patrick gave a small snort and replied, "What do you think? I'm a hostage."

Shaw indicated for the others to sit down while Ben, Ian and Raeven walked and talked.

"Let them go, Ian," said Ben, sighing.

"When we find the treasure," Ian replied, absentmindedly looking around.

Raeven chuckled and put a hand on his chest. "That's my man." And as if there wasn't a load of people around, she leaned forward and kissed him, well, actually, more like snogged the death out of him. Ben and others cringed at the disgusting sight and Kathryn muttered, "Spare me," and looked down at her shoes, not wanting to see the 'exciting' display in front of them.

"No, now," said Ben, giving Ian the opportunity to push Raeven away and concentrate on Ben. "Or you can figure out the clues for yourself." He took out a piece of paper from his brown jacket's pocket and handed it to Ian. "Good luck,"

Ian looked down at the piece of paper in his hand and then looked up again. "Ben," he said. "I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation." He turned around, grabbing the Declaration of Independence. "Let's have a look at that map." They sat down and took the Declaration of Independence out of its case, unrolling it carefully. Raeven had looked at the old document and scoffed and went outside to buy herself a sundae. Ben didn't know why she had done that but he was glad. Ben put on the glasses while Ian held up the Declaration of Independence.

He used his fingers to push the red and black lenses up and the image immediately changed. There was a cross and words reading 'Parkington Lane'. He pushed the red lenses down and above the words 'Parkington Lane' was 'Beneath'. "It's, uh, it's really quite something. It's really is remarkable. Take a look." He passed the glasses to Ian who leaned forward and read the words.

"Parkington Lane," he said.

"Beneath Parkington Lane," corrected Ben.

"Can I have a look?" asked a new voice. Ian looked up and gave a delighted and charming smile. Kathryn smiled back and took the glasses from Ian and observed him without it. With it, he looked scientific and smart. Without it, he looked handsome and devilish. She shook her head again and slipped on the glasses, looking at the map. "Wow," she said, taking it off and looking at Ian. "It _is_ remarkable. But why would the map lead us here and take us somewhere else? What's the purpose?"

"Just another clue," came Patrick's voice.

"Dad!" said Ben in a slightly scolding voice. "No, you're right, Kathryn. Parkington Lane has to be here somewhere. He looked around. "A street in the church, perhaps?" he asked, looking at Kathryn and Ian who were gazing at him with interest.

"But the map said 'Beneath Parkington Lane'!" argued Kathryn then she thought about it and added with a small smile of wonder on her face, "Not inside, beneath, beneath the church."

At that moment, Raeven stepped in with a Very Berry ice cream sundae in her hand. She glared at Kathryn who immediately started glaring at Ian, much to the interest of Ben. "So, what did you find out, my handsome Einstein?" she asked, walking over to Ian and sitting on his lap.

"We found out that we're much happier without you," muttered Kathryn under her breath, earning a smile from Ian. 

They walked over to the door that led to the boiler room. And as Patrick and Ben were talking about the status quo, Riley, Anne and Abigail had taken to wandering around while Kathryn leaned against a pole and played the role of the prisoner-that-hates-Ian. Every nasty comment she made earned her a glare from either Raeven or Ian, who was trying very hard to look as if he hated her. 

With Anne trailing behind him, Riley's eyes widened as his hand raised, pointing. "Hey, hey, Par... I found it! Him! Parkington Lane."

Ian released himself from Raeven and rushed over to Riley. He looked over at Kathryn who had followed him after she had heard Riley exclaim something about Parkington Lane. "It's a name," she said softly, a hand on the wall. Somebody shone a flashlight as Kathryn ran a hand over it. "Parkington Lane... He was a third-degree Mason of the blue Lo- Hey, stop!" she screamed as McGregor smashed a hammer into the wall. Ian quickly dragged her towards her, putting an arm around her.

"Ian," she hissed. "I thought we were trying to make Raeven think we hated each other! Not think that we were lovers or something!" That comment made Ian flush slightly but he covered it up by giving Kathryn a look and saying sarcastically,

"Thanks for appreciating my help, Lasky." And he pushed her away roughly and walked up to Shaw, McGregor, Viktor, Shippen, Phil and Ben to help bring down the weird coffin thing. As it was halfway down to the ground, there was a loud bang and the coffin bottom fell down, along with a skeleton head. Abigail, Riley, Anne and Kathryn exclaimed in disgust and quickly backed away from it.

"Careful no one steps in it," said Shippen.

"Shut up, Shippen," replied Kathryn quietly, staring at the skeleton head and then looking away.

* * *

A/N: Here you go guys, another chapter of Stuck in National Treasure. I've already made up my mind to do a sequel but I'm not sure what to name it. I'd like the first word to be Stuck but I'm not picky. XD Yeah, the story's gonna end soon and I think I'm gonna miss Anne and Kathryn. They're my favorite characters out of all the stories I've written so far. Anyway, REVIEW and you'll get an Ian! XD 


	8. Everything Breaks and Falls

_"Careful no one steps in it," said Shippen._

_"Shut up, Shippen," replied Kathryn quietly, staring at the skeleton head and then looking away._

Shippen grinned and then continued bring the dusty coffin down to the ground. When they finished, they all stared into the wall where a low tunnel with cobwebs stood. "Okay, who wants to go down the creepy tunnel in the tomb first?" asked Riley, receiving a smack on the arm from Anne.

"Shut up, Riley!"

"Right," said Ian and then he looked back at the group. "McGregor, Viktor, you stay here."

"And if anyone should come out without me or Ian, well... use your imagination," said Raeven, flashing them a smirk. "Shall we?" She climbed up the tomb and crawled in her mini skirt, flashing everybody her black silk underwear. All of them cringed at the sight of it and the sound of a shrill scream coming from Raeven.

After Raeven, Ben quickly crawled after her and one by one, they managed to make it through but of course, not without screams and exclamations of disgust. When Ben had finished brushing himself down, he grabbed a torch and held it in front of him. "You got a light?" he asked, shining the flashlight on it. Ian nodded and within seconds, everybody could see again.

Ben slowly led them down a flight of stairs and let Ian pass him as he made sure everybody was okay and to tell them to be cautious. "Watch your step," he said to Patrick, nodding grimly. He put a hand on Riley's shoulder and leaned forward, whispering, "Whatever you do, don't lose the girl." Riley looked at him, puzzled and then looked at Anne. He nodded. And then Abigail came down. She smiled at him and walked past him but she didn't make it far before Ben grabbed her wrist, pulled her towards him and gave her a passionate kiss. When they left each other's lips, they smiled at each other and continued with the way.

Shippen was walking down the stairs and said, "Why does that never happen to me?"

Kathryn, who was standing behind him, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You'll get your kiss someday. Well, maybe perhaps when you're ninety-years-old but... you'll still get it."

He chuckled and said, "Why doesn't that make me feel better?"

"What's this?" asked Raeven, not waiting for Ben to come forward so that they could see. Shaw quickly shone his flashlight on the way ahead and hurriedly put a hand on Raeven's shoulder.

"Watch it!" he said. "There's a hole!"

"Crap," muttered Anne as she watched Ben, Raeven, Ian and Shaw walk over the large hole with ease. She eyed it uneasily and felt better when Riley's warm hand grabbed her hand and squeezed reassuringly. She walked over the hole, her heart pounding and she extended a hand to Riley, who took it but crossing the hole easily.

Ben and Ian were looking everywhere. "It's a chandelier," said Ian.

"Yes," said Ben, nodding. He peered at the chandelier curiously and then he pressed his torch to it, lighting the whole chandelier up. The place immediately brightened and Kathryn's eyes widened at everything and her surroundings.

"This place is a suicide cliff," she said, looking at the rotting wood and everything else that could kill a person.

"Wow," said Riley.

"Look at the elevators," Ian said, pointing and smiling widely.

"A dumbwaiter system," said Patrick, giving a small smile.

Shippen was shaking his head incredulously and he said, "How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build this?"

"Same way they built the pyramids and the Great Wall of China," replied Ben.

"Yeah, the aliens helped them." (A/N: Ten billion dollars to those who can figure out said this. XD)

Kathryn laughed but it quickly ceased when Raeven shot her a dirty look.

"Right, let's go," said Ian. "What are we waiting for?" He raised an eyebrow and looked expectantly at Patrick who quickly replied, holding his hands up, "I'm not going out on that thing. Two-hundred years termite damage and rot,"

"Dad," said Ben, looking at him. "Do what he says,"

"Yes, listen to your son," Raeven replied, forever having a smirk on her face.

Patrick frowned and breathed in deeply. He put a hand on the rail and went down the long flight of stairs slowly and cautiously. The others soon followed. Patrick kicked a block of wood so that it would fall and nobody would step on it. "Watch your step," he said. "We're right under the Trinity graveyard. That's probably why no one found it." And then there was a slow rumbling sound and Kathryn who had put herself between Shaw and Ian looked up.

"What was that?" asked Anne.

"Subway," replied Ian quietly, nodding.

Then they took another step. There was a loud, frightening sound as the wood beneath Kathryn fell into the black nothingness and she, not having enough time to grab onto somebody fell as well. She closed her eyes and bit her lip. _I can't die now! Not when I'm only twenty-nine! What have I done wrong, God? What have I done to deserve this? _Her thoughts were cut short as somebody grabbed her wrist. She opened her eyes to see that Ian was bent over, sweat running down the side of his face. With a lot of grunting, he finally managed to pull her up.

Terrified and extremely grateful, Kathryn quickly hugged her saviour and gave Ian a small, lingering kiss on the lips. There wasn't any time left for anything other than doing those two small things because all of a sudden, the damaged wood started cracking and falling. Everybody held on to the closest thing they could find. Riley quickly grabbed Anne's hand and jumped across to another flight of stairs while Ben dangled in the air.

"Oh, hold on, Ben, hold on!" screamed Abigail.

Ian looked everywhere and then spotted the elevator. "Okay, get on the elevator. JUMP!" he screamed, pushing the frozen Kathryn onto the elevator, then Shippen, then Raeven, then Patrick, then finally himself.

While he was doing that, Abigail was trying to save Ben. "Ben!" she cried. "Grab my hand!" She leaned down far enough, so that Ben was able to do so. Riley stood up and then looked up. "Here," he said, indicating that Ben should throw the Declaration of Independence down to him. Ben nodded and raised a hand but the place they were standing on was unstable and Abigail slid down. It was her turn to dangle in the air.

Ben quickly grabbed her hand just as the Declaration of Independence rolled over to the side. His eyes widened and he looked at Abigail with sadness and something else, "Do you trust me, Abigail? Do you trust me?" Too terrified to speak, Abigail nodded slightly, hanging onto Ben's hand for dear life. As they swung, Ben let go of her hand, letting her drop onto the elevator. He had only enough time to grab the Declaration of Independence and put it on his back before the wood cracked and one plank of it disappeared into the black nothingness.

The plank of wood he was hanging onto's nails was slowly coming off. Just as they did, Patrick quickly dropped a piece of rough, sturdy rope. Ben grabbed it and climbed it hurriedly, trying as fast as he could to get onto safe ground. When he got to the elevator, he rushed to Abigail, hands on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I dropped you, I had to save the Declaration of Independence."

Abigail smiled and shook her head, "No, don't be. I would have done exactly the same to you."

Riley and Anne slowly came down the stairs, a hand holding Anne's and a hand on the rail. "I would have dropped you both, freaks." Anne laughed shakily but you couldn't blame her after escaping death by an inch.

"Come on," said Raeven.

"Ian, it's not worth it," Ben shook his head, frowning.

Ian looked at Ben and said, "Do you imagine anyone of your lives is more valuable than my sister's?" Seeing the confused look on Ben's face, he continued loudly, "I don't care! We are doing whatever we have to do to get the treasure so I can save my goddamn sister! We go on."

"Ian..." said Kathryn, putting a hand on his shoulder, patting it soothingly.

The elevator was slowly lowered.

It was time to go through cobwebs again. Ben used his burning torch to pull down the cobwebs and as he walked inside, he lit another torch for Ian to use. The room they were in formed a circle. Everything was dusty except for the ledges but even they weren't that clean. They spent a few minutes walking around, just marvelling at the architecture and everything. Raeven was the only one that didn't seem to be in awe; she scoffed and snorted at everything.

"What is this?" asked Riley, turning around and addressing the whole group.

"So where's the treasure?" came Raeven's nasty voice. She glared at Ben, challenging him to say 'I don't know'. "Well?"

Ben stayed silent and stared at the ground, taking deep breaths.

"This is it?" asked Riley, ignoring Anne's hand on his shoulder. "We came all this way for a dead end?" Ben was still quiet. "There's got to be something more."

"Riley, there's nothing more,"

"Another clue or..."

"No, there are no clues! That's it, okay? OVER! End of the road, moved. The treasure's gone, taken somewhere else." Ben's nostrils flared as he yelled at the taken aback Riley. "We've come too late! We spent too much time searching for the Charlotte, Riley." Riley opened his mouth to say another stupid thing but Ben cut him off. "You think I'm not upset either? I've spent all my life searching for this goddamn treasure and what do I find? BLOODY NOTHING!"

Raeven stepped forward and said, "You're not playing games with us, are you, Ben?" Ben's expression was frightened. "You know where it is," she continued, the greediness shining through her eyes.

"No," said Ben. "I don't."

Raeven licked her lips and said, "Fine. Then I'll go alone." She walked over to the elevator with three long strides and even though they were running after her, she made it before they did.

"Hey, Raeven, wait a minute!" said Ian, getting on the elevator but only to have Raeven raise her leg and kick Ian off with her fashionable leather boots. She untied the rope and the elevator had already begun going up.

"You can't just leave us here!" argued Abigail.

"Yes, I can," said Raeven. "Unless Ben tells me the next clue,"

"There isn't another clue," protested Riley. "Raeven, why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together?" Suddenly, Raeven's gun was staring Riley right in the face.

"Don't speak again," Raeven said, sneering at him.

"Okay..."

"The clue, where's the treasure? Ben?" When Ben stayed silent, Raeven cocked her gun, forcing Patrick to cut in. "The lantern," he said. "The status quo has changed, son." He looked at Ben with sadness and disappointment and then he looked back at Raeven. "It's part of freemason teachings. In King Solomon's temple, there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue."

"And what does it mean?" asked Raeven.

"Boston," said Ben, giving in. "It's Boston, the Old North Church in Boston where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple, to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming, one if by land, two by sea. One lantern under the winding staircase, _that's_ where we have to look."

Raeven nodded and said, "Thank you."

"Hey, hey, you gotta take us with you!" said Patrick.

"Why? So you can escape in Boston? Besides, if you out of picture, there's less baggage to carry,"

"What if we lied?"

Patrick Gates had a gun pointed at him. "Did you?"

"What if there's another clue?" asked Ben.

"Then I'll know exactly where to find you..." She diverted her attention to Ian and Kathryn who were standing beside each other, holding hands to find warmth and support. "And you two, very good acting, perhaps you should try for auditioning as the happy couple. That is, if you live or get out of here." With that, she was gone.

* * *

A/N: I'm soooooooooooooooo sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I've been writing and reading CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY fanfics. In short, I'm totally obsessed. XD I made this chapter longer than usual to make up for lost time. The story will be finished soon, so it will have a total of nine chapters. There's some Kathryn/Ian romance in here but once I read over it, I didn't really like it but I didn't want to change it. There's always some Anne/Riley fluff, since they are definitely cute and easy to write.

On a side note, don't you think Horatio/Natalia make an ADORABLE couple?!


	9. Everything Comes to an End

_"What if there's another clue?" asked Ben._

_"Then I'll know exactly where to find you..." She diverted her attention to Ian and Kathryn who were standing beside each other, holding hands to find warmth and support. "And you two, very good acting, perhaps you should try for auditioning as the happy couple. That is, if you live or get out of here." With that, she was gone._

"We're all gonna die..." said Anne, leaning on Riley for support.

"It's gonna be okay, Anne," replied Ben, turning around. "Riley, I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay, kiddo," said Patrick, putting a hand on Anne's shoulder.

"Okay, boys, what's going on?" Abigail said, following them. "The British came by sea. It was two lanterns, not one."

Ian understood everything. "Raeven needed another clue. They gave it to her."

"It was a fake, it was a fake clue," said Riley, a smile beginning to form on his face.

Ben had his hand on the wall, dusting away, well, dust, of course to reveal an all-seeing eye. "The all-seeing eye," he said. "'Through the all-seeing eye'..." He found a large circle that looked like a button. He pushed it and there was a rumbling sound; the door could now be pushed open. Ian and Patrick rushed over to help him and with several grunts, they managed. The room they entered was empty and Ben was heartbroken.

"Looks like somebody got here first," said Ben, sadness in his voice.

And then there was a laugh. It was startling, really, because nobody laughed when treasure was taken and the room was empty. Ian looked at Kathryn, raising an eyebrow, motioning for her to explain what was so funny. "This isn't the treasure room," explained Kathryn. "I don't think such a small room could have several billions worth of treasure. There's another clue here somewhere."

Ben realized that she was right and he got right on searching for the next clue and he found it. He ran a finger over it and there was a shape of the Meerschaum pipe. He reached into his pocket and brought out the Meerschaum pipe, still staring at the shape. "Could it really be that simple?" he murmured. He took the pipe apart and looked at it, "'The secret lies with Charlotte'." He put the top of the pipe into the shape, carefully and delicately. He then put the pipe stick into the place meant for it and used it to turn it sideways, so that the ship was upside-down then he pushed in. Almost magically, a door opened. The look on everybody's faces was priceless. There was a mixture of astonishment, triumph and the I'm-going-to-get-some-treasure look.

They quickly stepped into the treasure room. The sight in front of them was magical. They felt happy and proud that they had discovered something no one else had. Well, Ben did most of the thinking but the fact that they helped discover this fantastic treasure just made them the happiest people in the whole world. Abigail stepped forward and started to explore. She smiled brightly when she discovered the scrolls from the library of Alexandria. "Could this be possible?" she asked herself.

Riley was standing beside Anne and a statue. "It's a big... bluish-green man with a strange-looking goatee. I'm guessing that's significant. I love it." He hugged the status, rubbing his cheek against the dusty statue. When he finished embracing the statue, Anne couldn't help but say in a teasing manner, "You still love me more, right?"

"Yeah," said Riley quietly in a serious tone and before Anne could say anything else, he brought her face up to his, pressing his lips against hers. Anne was obviously shocked but she couldn't be happier. After being frozen for a few seconds, she began to kiss back eagerly, her arms snaking around his neck, hardly noticing his hands at her waist, bringing her closer to him.

Kathryn smiled at their display of public affection while Ben and Abigail were busy looking at treasure. She looked back at Ian and said, "They look happy, don't you think?"

"Yes, yes, they do," replied Ian, smiling. He put an arm around Kathryn affectionately and watched as Ben pressed his torch into the gun powder and lit up the whole room, showing that there was more treasure.

* * *

They had talked everything out with the FBI and its head, Agent Sadusky. Raeven had gone to jail and they lived happily ever after. Not really but they were certainly happy with the one percent they received from the treasure. Riley was still whining about his puny percent but with he and his girlfriend's percentage joined together, they had quite a lot of money.

Ian and Kathryn had fallen in love, dated and stayed in love. Ben and Abigail were engaged and living together very happily. Anne and Riley were going steady, breaking off once or twice and the time between those break-ups were awful. Anne would get all mopy and absolutely refuse to return to her flat with all those 'memories and spirits' of Riley. She stayed at Kathryn and Ian's house instead until they couldn't take it anymore.

Kathryn and Ian kidnapped Riley who at that time was half-heartedly snogging some girl with a gorgeous figure and a small brain and forced him to apologize to Anne or they would, put in Ian's words, "skin him alive and cut his flesh into small little pieces." Riley didn't need persuasion or threats. He had been trying to contact Anne but she had blocked him from her phone and her life. A few minutes after the apology, they were back together again and Kathryn and Ian had their house to themselves again.

After that, Kathryn and Ian had invited Ben, Riley, Anne and Abigail to dinner at their house. Well, their house wasn't really a house. It was more of a small mansion. When the door bell rang and the door swung open to reveal Ben and Abigail kissing on the porch, Ian smiled while Kathryn cooked their favourite foods.

"Hello, Ben, Abigail," said Ian, smiling warmly. "Come on in."

"Thank you, Ian," said Ben and Abigail in unison and then they smiled at each other. Ian cringed; it was weird when the two most mature people in the world acted all lovey-dovey. It was sickening, really but he couldn't really say anything because he and Kathryn acted the same sometimes.

"Hi, Ben, Abigail," greeted Kathryn and she turned around, smiling. She looked at Ian carefully and asked, "Do you mind cooking, Ian?" When Ian gave an adorable pout then a dejected sigh, Kathryn couldn't help but laugh. She walked over to Ben and Abigail and hugged them. "It's been so long since we've seen you!"

"Kathryn, it's only been four days! It's not like a month or something," said Abigail, giving a bright laugh.

"Yeah, well,"

Ben gave a deep laugh and said, "Glad to know you miss us so much but we've been quite busy."

Kathryn gave a sly smile and said mischievously, "Busy doing what? Maybe, oh, I don't know, snogging each other?"

Ben and Abigail looked shifty and coughed. "Sorry."

Then the doorbell rang and giving a small sigh, she got up and opened it. She was tackled by a figure in all black but Anne was pulled back by Riley who said, "Anne, you're not supposed to be happy! Remember, we're mourning over the loss of Pooped." Kathryn's eyes widened in disbelief at that comment and shook her head; her sister and her odd choice of boyfriends.

"Oh, yes, of course," said Anne, brushing herself down and regarding Kathryn, Ian, Ben and Abigail coolly. "How are you, dear friends? Unfortunately, our beloved and adorable cat, Pooped, passed away and now we are wearing black and we would appreciate it if you did too."

Ian stifled a laugh and turned around, grinning at Anne, "Of course we will, Anne! We're your friends, aren't we? Come on, Kathryn, let's go upstairs and change into more mournful clothes. Ben, could you cook please? Or Abigail, whichever one's better at cooking and less likely to burn the house down." Then he grabbed Kathryn's hand and together, up they went up the flight of stairs!

Ben shook his head and said, "I don't even want to know what's going on up there."

"Hey, it's not like we're having sex or anything," shouted Ian.

"Yeah, we're just changing!" added Kathryn.

Inside the room, they were indeed changing into more 'mournful' clothes. Kathryn had dug through her enormous wardrobe and finally found a large black shirt and black jeans. When she put it on, she didn't look quite mournful and she shrugged. _Who cares? _

"How do I look?" she asked Ian, turning around to face the man who was currently half-naked and looking his wardrobe.

Ian looked up and smiled. "Not very mournful,"

"That's what I thought. Unfortunately, I don't have many mournful clothes. I'll have to remember to buy clothes for occasions like these."

"Occasion? You mean to celebrate the fact that your sister and her boyfriend are totally nuts?"

"Ian!" Kathryn laughed and smacked Ian's arm. "You do not tell your girlfriend that her sister and her boyfriend are totally crazy! We women are sensitive."

"Yeah, not to mention nuts," muttered Ian, under his breath. His words were muffled but still understandable as he put on the black shirt.

Kathryn crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, while leaning on the wall.

"Jerk,"

"But you still love me right?"

She grinned, "Unfortunately." She straightened her shirt and waved, motioning for Ian to come next to her. She gave him a quick peck on the nose and on the lips and pulled back before Ian could kiss back.

"Tease," grumbled Ian, glaring at her.

"But you still love me," replied Kathryn shortly, grinning mischievously at Ian.

* * *

Only a year had passed since the year the gang found the treasure that made them famous and dirty rich. Anne, Riley, Ben and Abigail had found another treasure without Kathryn and Ian's help since Kathryn wanted to take a break from treasure hunting and Ian refused to leave his girlfriend all alone, in case she met another man and decided to dump him.

Kathryn had finally earned her degree in American History. After discovering the Knights Templar treasure and giving a few talks, she went back to Oxford to study. It was a hard year for her, especially since she had already met Ian and missed him terribly. She tried to not cry in public though. It helped that Ian visited her every month, not bothering about the cost since he was a multi-billionaire now.

Abigail had invited Anne, Riley, Kathryn and Ian to their mansion for dinner and she was a wonderful cook! She made crispy fried chicken, steamed, soft fish and delicious rice. While Ben took over the cooking, Kathryn had decided to ask her why Ben was in such a grumpy mood. Abigail shrugged and said, "Oh, he's just mad because a guy hit on me today," Kathryn giggled and asked teasingly,

"Was he hot?"

"Oh, yeah," Abigail nodded and continued dreamily. "He had black hair and a coy smile on his face. He had sunglasses on so I couldn't see his eyes but it's obvious he's one of those cool guys who snag all the girls."

"Ooh," squealed Kathryn. "Give me his number!"

"Kathryn!" yelled Ian as he walked into the kitchen.

Kathryn grinned at Ian and muttered, "Damn, foiled by the boyfriend."

Abigail laughed before saying, "Well, I better take over the cooking or else Ben's going to burn the house down."

* * *

It was night now in Philadelphia and Kathryn and Ian were in bed at their own house, snuggling against each other. Ian had an arm around Kathryn's shoulder thoughtfully while Kathryn gave a soft snore. He smiled gently down at her and then thought to the small green velvety box buried in his sock drawer. He gently shook Kathryn and when that didn't work, he lowered his mouth to her face and gave her a small kiss on the lips. She moaned and turned to him, snaking her arms around his neck and kissing back furiously. Ian broke away and Kathryn looked at him, with a was-that-why-you-woke-me look.

"Kathryn," asked Ian in a quiet voice. "Do you love me?"

Kathryn had a faint smile playing on her lips. "I don't think I'd be snuggled up against you if I didn't. Now go to sleep,"

"But you asked Abigail for the guy's number, didn't you?"

"Yeah, it was called having fun, now shut up and go to sleep."

"But-"

"Ian, don't make me kill you and feed you to elves," threatened Kathryn.

Ian smiled, not exactly reassured and took Kathryn's suggestion to heart.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so there are several epilogues in this chapter. XD I just grouped it into one.**

**Stuck in National Treasure has come to an end! I will NOT write a sequel 'cause frankly, I've gotten over my obsession for Sean Bean and National Treasure. **

**My obsession has passed on to more things like CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, NCIS, Bones, House and Numb3rs. If you're a fan of those, please try reading my fanfics and tell me what you think, 'kay?**

**Just review. It'll make me really happy!**


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